Xanadu DJL Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

Proceeded by Lagan Estate on the property, the winemaking of what is now Xanadu started at Margaret River in 1977, Western Australia. It is a relatively flat site with vines rooted in a deep, gravelly loam soil over clay which allows for free draining. The vines use vertical shoot positioning trellising and has a total of 17 hectares under vine. Then years later, the vineyard of Boodjidup and Stevens Road had been added to the project. The Rathbone family purchased Xanadu in 2005, are now its current proprietor.

The winery now ranks No.23 in The Real Review amongst the top wineries of Australia, easily one of best in Western Australia.

DJL series contain the mid-tier wines, to honour the founder of Lagan Estate, Dr. John Lagan.

The 2018 vintage DJL Cabernet Sauvignon is made of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, the rest is composed of 6% Malbec and 5% Petit Verdot.

The growing season began with good, even budburst after average Winter rainfall. The mild Spring which followed ensured that there was good flowering and fruit set. A moderate start to Summer, with no heat extremes, set up the harvest well. There was an incredible display of Marri blossom (tagged as a once in a generation ‘mega-blossom’) which meant bird pressure was practically non-existent. A minor rain event occurred in mid-March, which was followed by fine warm conditions which prevailed right through to middle of April allowing all red varieties to achieve great flavour and tannin ripeness. In summary 2018 will be remembered as an outstanding vintage!

Approximately half of the fruit is Estate grown in the Wallcliffe sub-region, while the remaining half is made up of fruit sourced from mature grower vineyards in the Margaret River subregions of Wallcliffe, Wilyabrup, and Treeton.

Fruit was crushed/destemmed before predominantly small batch fermentation in a combination of static and open fermenters. Fermentation takes 6-7 days at 24 – 26°C, during which, the cap is managed using a combination of aerative pumping over, as well as regular plunging by hand. After fermentation 20% of the components experienced a period of extended maceration on skins before a very gentle pressing. MLF is predominantly completed in tank, before the wine is matured for 14 months in French oak (25% new barriques). The blend was assembled, filtered and bottled without any fining